Today was about prepping and packing. We got out to the airplane hangar early for a fine safety briefing by a National Park Service climbing ranger. We then conducted gear checks and set about organizing and sorting personal equipment and group gear. This took us through mid afternoon and culminated in a weigh-in with the K2 Aviation ramp crew -the folks responsible for loading and unloading the aircraft. We were happy to be sheltered within the hangar as it rained off and on through much of the day. The rain mellowed by the time we got into town for dinner at the brewery. Plenty of tourists in town enjoying the weekend, but we seemed to fit in just fine. Tomorrow, with a little luck, we’ll get on the mountain.
It was great to be in Vinson Base last night... Quiet and peaceful (once the airplanes quit bringing climbers in, that is, sometime after 2 AM). We got going this morning at the usual VBC civilized hour of 9 AM. There was plenty to do in getting sorted, getting breakfast and getting some meeting time in with the other climbing guides and the ALE staff. Eventually we got tents down, packs loaded, and our ropes tied for glacier travel. We were first out of camp at 1:43 PM. Conditions were excellent and we made great time, arriving at the 9,000 ft "Low" Camp at 6:30, having traveled 5.6 miles. Sunburn was of more concern to us than frostbite today. The views of Vinson's giant and jagged northern neighbors- Shinn, Epperly and Gardner, were stupendous. Our camp went up quick and easy. Dinner went down without any hiccups and we were in bed by 11 PM. All were warned that the brilliant sunshine would warm the tents only until 3 AM. Then, although the sun won't set, it will go behind our mountain for about eight hours and life will be cold in the shadows. We'll reemerge from the tents at 11 AM to see what sort of day we have.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide JJ Justman along with the Five Day Summit Climb team led by Lindsay Mann both reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The teams spent some time on top and began their descent around 7:30 am. Both teams will return to Camp Muir to re-pack and then will continue down to Paradise. We look forward to seeing the groups at Rainier BaseCamp later today.
Congratualtions to today's Summit Climb teams!
Woooo! Proud of all of you, the whole team! What an experience! Can’t wait to see pictures. Luv u Hannah! And amazed and inspired by what you guys did.
Posted by: Danielle on 6/11/2014 at 4:00 am
Fantastic job David. So happy for you:)
Love ya Buddy.
Dad
Well...I've always said, "the hardest part of any expedition is just getting to the mountain". And that certainly is the case for my second team here on Aconcagua.
We have everything from missing bags to missing half of the team. Well, they're not missing just really late due to Tormento de Estados Unidos 2014!
However, all the team members are in Argentina. Half the team is in Penitentes and the other half is in Mendoza. We will all join up tomorrow and begin the journey.
We want to congratulate the recent team under Garrett Stevens on their recent summit. We are at 100% expedition success. I feel a trend coming on.
Stay tuned for another exciting adventure with me, Mike "the lion" King and Steve "fresh outta da" Gately.
RMI Guides JJ Justman, Mike King & Steve Gately
Wishing Diane, Randy and Denise better travels in the Andes then the trip down from Detroit and Miami along with marvelous weather. I hope Michigan and Utah gets all of the snow and cold weather instead of hitting your adventure!
Take care!
Bonnie
Today we moved to 9,300' on Mt. McKinley. We had great weather on the trail. As we reached the top of Ski Hill it started to snow so we set up camp and hunkered in for the evening. We are all settled in and are resting for another great day tomorrow.
We will keep you posted on our progress.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall radioed in from the summit of Mt. Rainier at 11:15 a.m. PT with 100% of the team on the top.
It is a beautiful, crisp, clear day and they enjoyed the views for a little while before starting their descent. They will return to Camp Muir to celebrate and warm up.
The team will spend tonight at Camp Muir (10,060') and begin their descent tomorrow after some additional training.
Congratulations to the team!
Hello from Aconcagua Basecamp.
Today saw more great weather on our walk from Casa de Piedra up to Plaza Argentina which will serve as a basecamp for the rest of the expedition. A BRISK river crossing first thing in the morning lead to a gorgeous (literally) walk up the Relinchos Valley. For the most part everyone on the team is performing well but some cold-like symptoms seem to be starting their rounds within the group. Hopefully tomorrow's rest day will give us the time we need to kick these colds and continue working our way up.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent and Team
Plenty of anticipation in the RMI Everest camp today. Casey and Chad took Scott and Rob up partway through the Icefall early this morning on their practice run. Michael, Leif, Wendy, Seth and myself took things easy with a rest day. Our Sherpa team had the day off as well. Everybody is getting set to move up the hill. Leif, Michael and I will get an early start into the Khumbu tomorrow and intend to be at Camp One for the next three nights. Tendi will head up to Camp Two (ABC) with the Sherpa team, while the rest of the team have plans for C1 in the next few days. Mark Tucker helped the team pack food and gear for this first "rotation" up the hill.
The day followed what seems to be a regular pattern now with clear and calm skies in the morning giving way to cloud and light snow in the afternoon. It pays to get showers and washing done early, which we did today. We are used to seeing a steady trickle of visitors and friends from neighboring expeditions and it is normal to try to coax the more gullible of these into some high stakes card game. We still run out of the tents to check on any great noise and today were rewarded with close-up views of a great avalanche off 25,000 ft Nuptse, just across the glacier.
Another beautiful day at Everest Basecamp. The weather so far this season has been really great. We've had traces of snow some nights but most days have been warm, sunny and the climbing conditions have been, as my friends say, 'splitter'.
Dave, Erica and I took advantage of the conditions today and went for an acclimatization hike. We went down the Khumbu, out of Basecamp and towards Pumori a ca. 23,000 foot peak located across the glacier from Nuptse. The trail below Basecamp was moderately busy with climbers, trekkers, porters and yak trains. Hiking the trails around here with Dave is always fun because he invariably runs into someone he knows, usually several people. Today we ran into a British gent who had done some scientific work on several of the artifacts that Dave and team had recovered when they found Mallory's body on the North Ridge of Everest in '99. They had never met face-to-face but had known of each other for a few years. I couldn't think of a more appropriate place for the two to meet.
On our hike we passed through Pumori Basecamp and then walked out across a rocky ridgeline. At a high point on the ridge we were rewarded with spectacular views of Nuptse, Lhotse and Everest. After getting the requisite photos Dave and Erica headed back to camp for lunch while I continued on to Camp 1 on Pumori. From there the views were even more spectacular. I could see all the way from Basecamp, up the icefall, through part of the Western Cwm (although Nuptse blocks most of this), up the Lhotse Face to the South Col and then I could follow parts of the South East Ridge of Everest to the Summit. It was very cool to be able to see almost the entire climbing route. It also gave me a great visual representation of why it takes about two months to climb this mountain. It's a long way from basecamp to the summit!!!
The rest of the team is doing great as well. Ed and Peter had spent last night at Camp 1 and today they moved up to Camp 2 (Advanced Basecamp). They called on the radio in the morning and reported that all was well and they called again when they had reached ABC. Melissa made her way through the icefall in the early morning hours, climbing her way from Basecamp to Camp 1. Everyone took advantage of the great weather today.
The team is spread out on the mountain for the next few days but that's neither unexpected nor a bad thing on a long expedition. Our schedules will overlap again soon and we'll all be together and that will be great. But for now it's nice to have a little extra room in the dining tent.
RMI's Denali climbing season is officially underway. Our May 10th Denali Expedition team met yesterday at the Anchorage airport and travelled north to the town of Talkeetna. We will spend today packing our gear and preparing for our expedition, as well as attending an expedition orientation meeting with the National Park Service. The plan is to have all of the T’s crossed and the I’s dotted by this evening so that we’re ready to fly into Kahiltna Base Camp tomorrow, weather permitting. We’ll keep you posted…
Good luck Aaron!!! Thinking of you and can’t wait to see pictures of your climb! Be safe! Love you!
Susan ❤️
Posted by: Susan Wells on 6/21/2021 at 1:22 pm
Good luck to the entire team. Watch out for Aaron.
Posted by: Bob Telford on 6/20/2021 at 4:18 pm
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